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Case study

Machine tool builder invests in alignment laser and improves efficiency by 50%

Customer: Challenge: Solution: Dawn Machinery Co., Ltd. To deliver high-precision machine Increased production efficiency and (Taiwan) tools efficiently and on-time. accuracy goals with Renishaw’s XK10 alignment laser system. : Precision

The commercial success of building custom-made machine tools requires careful attention and efficiency. Error inspection and correction during assembly needs to be fast and accurate, while labour costs have to be minimised. Faced with increasing customer demand, Dawn Machinery Co., Ltd (Dawn Machinery) chose to replace its traditional granite square and dial indicator metrology in favour of Renishaw’s XK10 alignment laser system. Background

Located in Changhua County (Taiwan), Dawn Machinery specialises in the production of high-precision custom-made machine tools. Its core models include vertical universal grinders, lathes and machines.

With decades of in-house experience in machine design, manufacturing, power distribution and controller software development, the company can respond to even the most stringent customer requirements.

Like many other manufacturers, Dawn Machinery had long employed a range of traditional metrology techniques for machine alignment checks, most notably granite squares and dial indicators, as well as autocollimators.

It had also outsourced dynamic accuracy inspections using Renishaw’s XL-80 laser interferometer system. Dawn Machinery recognised the advantages laser technology could bring in terms of portability, ease of use and detailed XL-80 laser intermerometer system used to check dynamic accuracy of diagnostic report generation. Dawn Machinery’s machine tools Challenge

It can typically take anywhere between three and six months Mr Hsu explained, “It can be very time consuming to set up a to design, manufacture, inspect and deliver a custom-made granite square. Some squares can be very large and need to machine tool to a customer. In a fiercely competitive Taiwanese be carried by multiple people and lifted by a gantry crane. Not machine tool market, production efficiency is of paramount only that, storing many squares of different sizes needs a lot importance. of floor space and for a manufacturer of custom machine tools this simply isn’t cost-effective.” Mr Hsu-Hsing Hsu, General Manager at Dawn Machinery said, “Compared to mass-produced machine tools, custom- He continued, “For high-specification machine tool models made machine tools demand very different production and we ultimately need to be able to control machine tool errors management procedures, as well as much stricter control of to within 1 µm, and with granite squares having a typical costs.” accuracy of 2 µm to 3 µm this is impractical. Higher precision squares are also expensive and rarely available, especially at “We see the market demand for custom-made machine tools lengths of greater than 2 m.” increasing on an almost daily basis, so delivering high- precision machine tools efficiently and on-time is a crucial The testing of longer-travel machines was also a problem challenge for us.” for Dawn Machinery. With observed metrology errors only increasing with length, finding granite squares of sufficient Over time the use of traditional granite squares and dial physical size was an increasing concern, as was their handling indicator metrology was recognised as a significant bottleneck and storage. in the machine tool assembly process. The accuracy limitations were also becoming an issue.

The XK10 system is very portable and easy to set up. Our operators only need to follow the display unit instructions to complete a measurement process. Overall, I estimate that our machine tool inspection efficiency has been improved by at least 50%. Dawn Machinery Co., Ltd (Taiwan)

Squareness measurement with XK10 alignment laser system Dawn Machinery vertical

Solution

To achieve its production efficiency and accuracy goals, Dawn In terms of geometric errors it can measure machine Machinery chose to invest in Renishaw’s XK10 alignment straightness, squareness, flatness and level, as well as laser system as a direct replacement of its traditional granite parallelism with an additional parallelism kit. Rotational error squares and dial indicator metrology equipment. measurements cover straightness, coaxiality and spindle direction. Developed to measure both geometric and rotational errors in machine tools, XK10 comprises a laser launch unit, static The XK10’s display unit is designed like a small tablet and mobile transceiver units, versatile fixturing kit and portable computer and enables the user to collect, analyse and record display unit for live error readings. All system components are measurement data. It provides step-by-step instructions for battery-powered and communicate with each other wirelessly. each type of measurement, with easy-to-understand graphics and real-time readings guiding the operator through each This compact, all-in-one digital solution can measure all types stage of the measurement process. of errors across all types and sizes of machine tool, with the system able to take measurements over a range of 30 m. Flexible setup using XK10 fixturing kit

Results

The switch to alignment laser technology has enabled Dawn Mr Hsu also recognised the important role played by fixturing Machinery to increase its custom machine tool production and reporting in helping his company improve efficiency and efficiency and meet growing business demands. At the same accuracy: time, it has had a marked impact on machine tool inspection “Since most of our orders are for custom-made machine tools, accuracy. there can be great divergence in the mechanical structure of Mr Hsu said, “The XK10 system is very portable and easy each model to be inspected. The XK10 fixturing kit really helps to set up. Our operators only need to follow the display unit out in this regard, providing us with a flexible set of pre-made instructions to complete a measurement process. We’ve used jigs that solves any kind of installation problem.” the system for a good period and the performance is highly “Furthermore, the display unit software is really user-friendly. consistent. Overall, I estimate that our machine tool inspection Data acquisition is simple, and reports generated are easy to efficiency has been improved by at least 50%.” read and understand. We can recognise potential The long-standing challenge of measuring errors in larger errors earlier and feel even more confident in our machines.” machine tools has also been addressed by the XK10 Dawn Machinery is now considering purchasing its own alignment laser, as Mr Hsu explains: Renishaw XL-80 laser interferometer system and XR20-W “With a measuring range of up to 30 m, the XK10 has also rotary axis calibrator to test their 5-axis centres. single-handedly solved our problem of inspecting long-travel machine tools. We no longer have to worry about finding suitably sized squares, which makes us more confident in producing even longer-travel machines in the future and helps us greatly reduce labour costs.”

For more information and to watch the video visit, www.renishaw.com/dawn

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